Some of these comments are a bit surprising. It seems like many people may not have participated in many crowdfunding campaigns.
Dragonsteel’s campaigns have been the most well executed and transparent campaigns I’ve participated in.
Many commenters seem to have the misunderstanding that backing a crowdfunding campaign is the same as purchasing a product from a seller, and it’s just not.
The biggest hurdle this campaign faced was the extensive delay of the playing cards (if my memory serves as to the only product that took months longer to be delivered than anticipated). That delay ate into all of the expected time the team had dedicated to fulfillment before the holiday sales and DSNX approached.
The fact this rarely is an issue for Dragonsteel campaigns just speaks volumes to how well the previous campaigns went.
As for those upset Bands of Morning were fulfilled before the campaign was, again, those were products ready to ship from a seller when paid for, rather than taking pledges to fund the development and production of products.
I’m just really saddened by all the comments and downvotes that speak to people treating this campaign as if it were a preorder store purchase, rather than a crowdfunding campaign.
I do get the disappointment, but goodness, the Dragonsteel team has been transparently and open with us the vast majority of the time. The one time we’ve had a bit of confusion was with the progress bars recently.
Another part and point of the crowdfunding experience is to be in the whole process WITH the creators. Expediting the frustrations and excitement when things both go horribly wrong and when they go so amazingly well. Welcome to the sad parts of participating in the crowdfunding journey.
And from experience working in busy environments, I can’t imagine the pressure the team has just felt themselves trying to manage all the competing demands for attention and work to be accomplished.
The last piece of advice for those disappointed. Should you wish to ever back a different crowdfunding campaign please be mindful that MANY are run and executed with much less communication or success as this (or Year of Sanderson) have been. Let that temper whether crowdfunding is for you.
/rant.
All that said, thank you so much Dragonsteel team for the communication and willingness to engage with the community, even when parts of the community seem to just not like the crowdfunding experience.
Hi Samantha, Dragonsteel projects have a very high ratio of new backers for every new campaign they run. This has always been true. Brandon is popular enough that his fans will back his projects even when they have zero other experience with crowdfunding. Comments similar to the ones found here were rife during the beginning months of YoS when DS was stuck waiting for more copies of Tress to arrive.
Just remember to approach them compassionately, these are fans less experienced with the typical crowdfunding expectations. This doesn't make their feelings any less valid, and the feedback is something DS can choose whether or not to make use of for future campaigns. In this case the intent was likely to fulfill everything before Light Day, but due to product delays it wasn't possible. They also could have received way more Light Day orders than they expected. Lots of variables, and as always chances to learn for both DS and the community at large. Empathy and compassion will always win the day.
It was always planned to ship wave 1 in Fall, the info has been out from the start. Fall is between end of September and shortly before Christmas, this year between September 22nd and December 21st. Shipping started about a month ago. That's, at worst, a delay of two weeks or something, not by far enough for such a major setback with good planning. They knew their shipping capacity, they informed you about that as well. There was NEVER any chance of this sale not clashing with the crowdfunding fulfillment.
And claiming that crowdfunding is different so it shouldn't be compared is a poor excuse. Crowdfunding means that people pay you for producing something, before you produce it. You are literally being funded by the community, they are your investors. ANY businessman could tell you that pissing off your investors with something that was very preventable is almost suicidal for your business, and those who can't are very soon out of business. Yes, delays happen. I am currently backing another project that has delays, it's not a problem. I backed other projects with delays in the past.
The issue is that this delay was basically baked into the planning, and people have every reason to be disappointed and angry by how it is handled, no matter what you think. Also, the issue with the progress bars is bigger than you think; it's NOT a good showing to suddenly replace an ongoing shipping run with something else after the first tier was delivered, and even now that it's back, it still wasn't updated, after what. Two days? When there are so many people frustrated already? People rightfully wondered if they were parked for a sale, and rightfully got annoyed by that. It's also not a good showing when only the lower tiers are affected, because, yes, that does feel like being devalued.
In addition, there are people who received both WoR and BoM leatherbounds already, while a substantial part of people here received jack yet. Next month, WaT launches, creating further delay. Again. This was KNOWN. This wasn't planned yesterday, none of it. Shipping was always set for Fall, and they knew shipping capacity for ages now, too. Launching/fulfilling several big projects in short order when you are a small business is bad practice, and things could have absolutely planned differently.
Lastly. Anyone could have figured that launching Bands would create large volumes of orders. Again, this was a premeditated issue.
This user is a top contributor to this community!
Some of these comments are a bit surprising. It seems like many people may not have participated in many crowdfunding campaigns. Dragonsteel’s campaigns have been the most well executed and transparent campaigns I’ve participated in. Many commenters seem to have the misunderstanding that backing a crowdfunding campaign is the same as purchasing a product from a seller, and it’s just not. The biggest hurdle this campaign faced was the extensive delay of the playing cards (if my memory serves as to the only product that took months longer to be delivered than anticipated). That delay ate into all of the expected time the team had dedicated to fulfillment before the holiday sales and DSNX approached. The fact this rarely is an issue for Dragonsteel campaigns just speaks volumes to how well the previous campaigns went. As for those upset Bands of Morning were fulfilled before the campaign was, again, those were products ready to ship from a seller when paid for, rather than taking pledges to fund the development and production of products. I’m just really saddened by all the comments and downvotes that speak to people treating this campaign as if it were a preorder store purchase, rather than a crowdfunding campaign. I do get the disappointment, but goodness, the Dragonsteel team has been transparently and open with us the vast majority of the time. The one time we’ve had a bit of confusion was with the progress bars recently. Another part and point of the crowdfunding experience is to be in the whole process WITH the creators. Expediting the frustrations and excitement when things both go horribly wrong and when they go so amazingly well. Welcome to the sad parts of participating in the crowdfunding journey. And from experience working in busy environments, I can’t imagine the pressure the team has just felt themselves trying to manage all the competing demands for attention and work to be accomplished. The last piece of advice for those disappointed. Should you wish to ever back a different crowdfunding campaign please be mindful that MANY are run and executed with much less communication or success as this (or Year of Sanderson) have been. Let that temper whether crowdfunding is for you. /rant. All that said, thank you so much Dragonsteel team for the communication and willingness to engage with the community, even when parts of the community seem to just not like the crowdfunding experience.
Previously backed this creator's crowdfunding project
This user is a top contributor to this community!
Hi Samantha, Dragonsteel projects have a very high ratio of new backers for every new campaign they run. This has always been true. Brandon is popular enough that his fans will back his projects even when they have zero other experience with crowdfunding. Comments similar to the ones found here were rife during the beginning months of YoS when DS was stuck waiting for more copies of Tress to arrive. Just remember to approach them compassionately, these are fans less experienced with the typical crowdfunding expectations. This doesn't make their feelings any less valid, and the feedback is something DS can choose whether or not to make use of for future campaigns. In this case the intent was likely to fulfill everything before Light Day, but due to product delays it wasn't possible. They also could have received way more Light Day orders than they expected. Lots of variables, and as always chances to learn for both DS and the community at large. Empathy and compassion will always win the day.
This user is a top contributor to this community!
It was always planned to ship wave 1 in Fall, the info has been out from the start. Fall is between end of September and shortly before Christmas, this year between September 22nd and December 21st. Shipping started about a month ago. That's, at worst, a delay of two weeks or something, not by far enough for such a major setback with good planning. They knew their shipping capacity, they informed you about that as well. There was NEVER any chance of this sale not clashing with the crowdfunding fulfillment. And claiming that crowdfunding is different so it shouldn't be compared is a poor excuse. Crowdfunding means that people pay you for producing something, before you produce it. You are literally being funded by the community, they are your investors. ANY businessman could tell you that pissing off your investors with something that was very preventable is almost suicidal for your business, and those who can't are very soon out of business. Yes, delays happen. I am currently backing another project that has delays, it's not a problem. I backed other projects with delays in the past. The issue is that this delay was basically baked into the planning, and people have every reason to be disappointed and angry by how it is handled, no matter what you think. Also, the issue with the progress bars is bigger than you think; it's NOT a good showing to suddenly replace an ongoing shipping run with something else after the first tier was delivered, and even now that it's back, it still wasn't updated, after what. Two days? When there are so many people frustrated already? People rightfully wondered if they were parked for a sale, and rightfully got annoyed by that. It's also not a good showing when only the lower tiers are affected, because, yes, that does feel like being devalued. In addition, there are people who received both WoR and BoM leatherbounds already, while a substantial part of people here received jack yet. Next month, WaT launches, creating further delay. Again. This was KNOWN. This wasn't planned yesterday, none of it. Shipping was always set for Fall, and they knew shipping capacity for ages now, too. Launching/fulfilling several big projects in short order when you are a small business is bad practice, and things could have absolutely planned differently. Lastly. Anyone could have figured that launching Bands would create large volumes of orders. Again, this was a premeditated issue.